


Caught in the Riptide

by Cassy27



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, And yes there is sex here, Angst, Drama, Feels, M/M, Steve meets Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 08:37:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4094266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassy27/pseuds/Cassy27
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve has seen many things since he defrosted, but he never expected to meet his alternate-self. When it becomes clear that they don’t get along at all, Steve is eager to send his counterpart back to where he came from. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Nothing is simple when it comes to alternate-Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught in the Riptide

**Author's Note:**

> And idea struck me. This is something I have never attempted before, but I had tremendous fun writing this! :D I do hope you will enjoy!
> 
> Thank you, Greenloki, for beta'ing this monster of a OneShot!

‘ _Watch out!_ ’

At the sound of Clint’s voice screaming at him through the earpiece, Steve spun around. A warrior was charging at him, an axe lifted above his head, ready to strike him down. Using his shield had become second nature to him a long time ago, so Steve used it to block the attack and simultaneously shove the warrior back.

An arrow whooshed through the air and buried itself in the warrior’s heart, instantly killing him.

Steve directed his eyes upwards and nodded a quick thank you at the archer stationed on the roof of the Central Bank. Clint gave him a thumbs-up before focusing on a warrior creeping up on Natasha. The arrow pierced its shoulder, but the warrior didn’t even seem to feel it. The second arrow caused his head to explode – which he did feel.

It was still a mystery where these enemies had come from. One moment everything had been peaceful in New York City and then suddenly a distress call had been made to the Avengers. And now here they were, fighting what looked like forty enhanced warriors. Steve was fairly certain about the enhanced-part. Wounds hardly slowed them down and they were faster than a regular human being.

They were alien. They had to be. The deathly pale skin, hollow eyes, and strange markings on their skin practically closed the case. Their weapons were unlike anything he had seen, too. Sure, some used basic tools like axes or hammers, but then there were laser-shooting guns which had Tony excited beyond belief.

‘ _I gotta get my hands on one of those,_ ’ Tony announced for the umpteenth time in the last half hour, ‘ _So don’t destroy them all. And Clint? Don’t even think about snatching one!_ ’

Clint chuckled through the intercoms. ‘ _First come, first serve._ ’

“Can we focus here?” Annoyance lingered in his voice, but Steve didn’t care. They were taking way too long to take out forty-something bad guys. Hell, they had dealt with Ultron’s minions faster than this!

He punched another alien warrior in the face and, when knocking him out with his shield didn’t work, he shot him in the heart. That seemed to be their only weakness – the heart. And their head, though they wore thick helmets.

“Stark, what’s your position?”

‘ _Always on top, Cap, you know that._ ’

Steve rolled his eyes.

‘ _Can we please keep it decent?’_ Natasha was fighting down the street, alongside Thor who was eagerly knocking warriors out of his way like he was collecting points in an amusement-park-game, and even from a 25-yard distance, Steve caught her can-you-not glare.

Thank God he was alone so no-one saw the blush creeping up his neck.

‘ _That was a decent reply_.’ Tony came hovering above Steve. ‘ _I am literally on top._ ’

“Can you please–?” Steve waved a hand towards five warriors ready to charge at him.

Tony blasted them apart, which took another five minutes, because those bastards were surprisingly apt at avoiding energy blasts as fast as light. It was remarkable, really, but Steve didn’t have time to stand back and admire their skills.

He reloaded his gun – a personalized Stark-weapon – and aimed for heads and chests.

A loud rumbling filled the air.

‘ _Uhm, guys, Friday is picking up all sorts of weird readings._ ’ Tony landed next to Steve as electricity crackled through the air suddenly. There were bright blue sparks, too.

Steve glanced at Thor, momentarily thinking it might be him, but the God of Thunder was too busy smashing alien warriors’ heads with Mjolnir to be responsible.

More thunder rumbled around them and Steve quickly focused ahead again.

“What the hell?” The faceplate of Tony’s suit popped open. He was breathing heavily and a thin layer of sweat covered his brow. It had been an intense fight and it wasn’t over yet.

A blinding flash of light forced Steve to close his eyes for a moment and turn away. Tony threw an arm around him to protect him against … something, but as quickly the blinding light had appeared, it disappeared again.

When they straightened their backs, they found themselves staring at … Steve had trouble wrapping his mind around it. Before him was a circular shape, a huge tear in the world, and the edge of it crackled with energy. It was huge, higher than seven feet and wider than ten, and it showed, on the other side, chaos. Hundreds of those alien warriors were there, fighting in their own world between rubble and fire.

“Stark, you have an explanation?” Steve couldn’t rip his gaze away.

But before Tony could answer – if he even had an answer – another dozen alien warriors stormed out of the tear. It reminded Steve of the portal created by the Tesseract, back when Loki had tried to take over the world, but Steve didn’t have any more time to think about it. Alien warriors were coming through and they had to be stopped.

 _‘Can I light them up now?_ ’ Thor asked.

In between dealing out blows and blocking attacks, Steve glanced around. The civilians were all gone, having entered the subway to seek refuge or having gone into buildings to protect themselves against the attacking warriors. The streets were clear.

“Yes, we’re good!” Steve shouted. It was time to end this fight.

Thor took to the sky and after gathering momentum he summoned lightning and took out a dozen warriors. The sky above them darkened, the clouds growing grey and black. Rain began to pour down. Thor summoned more lightning with the help of his hammer. Steve didn’t miss the way his already bright blue eyes turned even brighter. It reminded him of the fact that Thor truly was a god.

“Those laser-guns better still be working,” Tony muttered beside him.

“Can we focus on closing that … thing?” Steve turned back to the portal once he was sure Thor had everything under control.

Another dozen warriors came through – Thor lit them up, too. The smell of burning flesh was nauseating.

“Don’t have much experience with interdimensional portals, Cap,” Tony said.

One more alien warrior stumbled through the portal. There was someone on his back, choking him, and the warrior desperately tried to shake him off. He knocked his elbow back and tossed whoever was fighting him over his shoulder and onto the ground. Steve didn’t have time to properly see the man’s face, because he instantly jumped up onto his feet and turned back to the warrior, pulling out two long daggers.

The warrior roared and lifted his laser-gun, but the man was faster. He planted one dagger into his eye and another in his chest. There was blood everywhere.

The portal flickered a few times and then collapsed in on itself.

It stopped raining.

‘ _Can anyone explain to me what the fuck is going on?_ ’ Clint was still positioned on top of Central Bank, his bow no longer raised since all the warriors were dead. He was staring, utterly confused, and Steve couldn’t blame him. He felt the same way.

“Language, Bart–” Tony started the joke, but didn’t finish it, because the man turned and left them all speechless.

Steve thought he was losing his mind. The man looked like … well … him. Only, he didn’t wear a Captain America outfit and he didn’t wield a shield. He had a thick beard and several tattoos peeked out of the collar of his black long-sleeve shirt. He wore a bullet-proof vest and several weapons were attached to his body – guns to the small of his back, daggers to his arms and legs, a semi-automatic slung over his shoulder … Steve didn’t doubt more weapons were hidden in his black combat-boots.

“Oh my God.” Natasha had joined them. Her grip on her gun tightened.

Other Steve’s eyes were moving along everyone’s face. They lingered on Tony, Steve didn’t miss that, and then moved onto Thor and Natasha. He looked at his counterpart last and his blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What the fuck?”

“Language,” Tony squeaked.

• • •

Steve just couldn’t wrap his head around it as he stared at the other Steve through the one-way mirror. He wasn’t as armed anymore, but he still looked intimidating. The sleeves of his shirt had been rolled up to reveal tattoos and scars all over his arms. His gaze flickered around the small room and every now and again, he stared dead into the camera above the door.

“You should go and talk to him,” Tony said, finally breaking the long silence. His concerned and confused gaze flickered between the two Captains and the more it did, the more his head seemed to hurt.

“Why should I talk to him?” Steve crossed his arms before his chest. The idea of being in the same room as that man unnerved him. Staring at himself, no matter how different he looked, unnerved him.

“If our theory is right and he does come from an alternate universe, then you might be the only one who understands him,” Tony offered. He wasn’t offended by Steve’s defensive behavior. If anything, he looked like he understood. This was unsettling for everyone. “You’re different, but then you’re not, you know?”

“I _don’t_ know,” Steve sighed. He dropped his arms and rubbed a hand over his tired face.

“Just talk to him,” Tony encouraged him, “And if he tries something, I’ll be right here to kick his ass.”

“You can’t kick _my_ ass,” Steve peeked at Tony through his fingers, “I doubt you can kick his.”

“Rude.” Tony shoved a fist against Steve’s shoulder.

But Steve supposed Tony was right. It should be him talking to … him. God, his head felt like it was about to explode, like Thor had taken Mjolnir to his skull a few times. What was he even supposed to ask? There were a million different questions running through his mind!

Then there was, of course, the possibility that the guy would refuse to say anything at all.

Steve inhaled deeply and steadied himself.

As soon as the door opened, other Steve’s gaze locked onto him. His eyes narrowed and Steve didn’t miss the way his hands intertwined tightly, his knuckles turning white. He was on guard, which was when Steve realized that of course the guy had to be scared! He was in a world he didn’t know, surrounded by people wearing the faces of his friends without actually being his friends.

“Want some water?” Steve asked as he took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

“No,” His counterpart answered. He leaned back into the chair and hardly blinked as he stared at Steve. “Am I being detained?”

“You’re not freaking out like I am?” Steve couldn’t help but ask.

Other Steve shrugged. “Not the weirdest shit I’ve gone through,” He said, “I once smoked too much weed in the seventies; then I saw some strange shit.”

“The seventies?” Steve echoed.

“You didn’t party like the rest of the world back then?”

“No, I was still on ice,” Steve explained, though that wasn’t really what he wanted to talk about. Or maybe he did? Honestly, he hadn’t a clue what kind of information he was supposed to gather here. Damn Tony!

“Are you talking about the Arctic?”

“Yes,” Steve said.

“Fuck, how long have you been under?” He scratched his beard and somehow looked … amused. Steve couldn’t pin the guy down. One moment he looked afraid and now he looked, well, he wouldn’t go as far as to say bored, but it came close.

“Seventy years.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“You?”

The guy chuckled and dropped his hands back onto the table. “A few days I think, can’t really remember. It’s been ages ago.” He leaned forward, elbows resting on the metal surface of the table. “So you’re saying that you haven’t lived through the Vietnam War? The Cuban Missile Crisis? 9/11?”

“I haven’t, no,” Steve answered and for some strange reason he felt guilty, “But you have.” He let his gaze rake across his counterpart’s body, once again taking in all the tattoos and scars. They made more sense, though not everything was explained now.

“The good and the bad,” The guy shrugged, “Like I said, the seventies were great.”

“This doesn’t faze you at all,” Steve noticed, “None of this does.” He should have noticed before. Tony had probably caught on the moment they started talking. Really, he shouldn’t be the one leading this conversation. It should be Natasha. She was an expert at certain interrogation techniques. “You land in an alternate universe, at least that’s our theory, but you just … sit there.”

“Well, you’re detaining me,” Sarcasm dripped from his voice, “I doubt you’ll let me walk out of here.”

“Where would you go?”

Other Steve clicked his tongue. “You got a point there.”

“We’re working on a solution,” Steve fought the urge to glance over his shoulder at the one-way mirror, “Hopefully Tony can work on creating another portal so you can return to your dimension.”

Somehow _that_ got a strong reaction out of him. He threw his eyes down and turned his head away. Steve didn’t miss the way he pressed his lips together or the way the muscles in his shoulders flexed suddenly. “So you’re all here, huh?” He asked with a tight voice. “You and Tony and Thor and …”

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, confused.

“Back on the street,” His too bright blue eyes turned to him – or maybe they weren’t too bright. Steve didn’t know. Were his eyes the same? He hadn’t really looked at himself for this long. “I saw everyone with the exception of Banner.”

Steve swallowed heavily at that. Bruce had left after they had defeated Ultron and he was still missing.

“Even Tony was there.”

He wasn’t sure what he should say to all that. What was the guy even talking about?

“Where I come from, there are no Avengers,” He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his blond hair – hair that was longer than Steve’s, “At least, I’m assuming that’s what you’re called here?”

Steve nodded.

“We united when the God of fucking Mischief attacked,” He once again leaned back into the chair and grabbed something out of the pocket of his black trousers. Cigarettes. Steve parted his lips to protest; only no sound came out, because the sight of his alternate-self putting a cigarette between his teeth and lighting it up was too surreal. “It was a mess,” He continued as he blew out some smoke, “Stark died after delivering the nuke, but here he hasn’t. I saw him alive and kicking on the street.”

Steve’s chest constricted painfully at the idea of Tony being dead and, this time, he couldn’t fight the urge to glance over his shoulder. He couldn’t actually see him, but he knew he was standing right behind the one-way mirror and that thought calmed him.

“Thor took his asshole of a brother back to Asgard and we haven’t heard from or seen him since.” With the cigarette between his fingers, he played with the butt of it using his thumb. His eyes were glazed over, his mind lost in memories. “For all we know, he’s dead because Loki slit his throat. Who will tell?”

“And the others?” Steve had to ask.

“After Ultron, Bruce left.” He brought the cigarette back to his lips. A small voice in the back of Steve’s head told him he should tell the guy that he shouldn’t smoke inside, but what did it matter? “He felt guilty for creating him. He’d wanted to do good, but … well, I’m sure you’ve met Ultron.”

“Yeah, not a pleasant guy.”

“Clint quit the team, too,” He continued as he scratched his beard, “We met these twins who were very promising, but they got killed in action. Clint took it hard so he needed some time off – understandably. So that just leaves me and Nat and Sam.”

“Sounds …” Steve couldn’t find the right word. Pietro’s death had shaken Clint up in this universe, too, but at least Wanda had survived. Steve didn’t even want to entertain the idea of her having died, too, so he reminded himself that she was alive and well, and currently in Sokovia with Vision to return peace to the thoroughly shaken country after Ultron visited.

“Fucked up?” Finally he glanced up, his gaze piercing Steve’s. They revealed nothing – no sadness, no anger, no fear. “Because that’s what it is. So you see why I gotta get back sooner rather than later? My world is fucked up, lots of dead heroes, and with the latest bad guy being a pain in our asses, I’m kinda needed over there.”

“And what about the portals?” Steve asked. That was one small detail he nearly forgot.

“The bad guy is a science geek,” He shrugged, “He likes to experiment, for example, with interdimensional portals. Nat and I were working on destroying the power-source, but in the process we fucked up and kinda kick-started it to life. No worries, we’ll fix it.”

“Okay,” Steve nodded, because that was all the information he could handle for one day. Only … there was one more thing he needed to know. This time, he wished Tony _wasn’t_ watching the whole thing. “I’ve got one more question.”

“Shoot.”

“Bucky?” Because maybe the Steve sitting on the other side of the table had already found him and saved him. Maybe he could offer some knowledge on his possible whereabouts or steer him into the right direction.

“Bucky?” He echoed, bewildered. “He died in World War Two.”

That wasn’t expected. “So there’s no Winter Soldier?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“What about SHIELD then?” The Winter Soldier had kicked off a whole conspiracy. It had led to the revelation of SHIELD being infected by HYDRA. It had led to the mega-destruction of Washington when they had brought down the three helicarriers of Project Insight.

“SHIELD hasn’t existed in a very long time,” The frown on the guy’s face was enough to reveal that he had absolutely no idea what Steve was talking about, “After 9/11 it became clear the organization was corrupt. Not long after, HYDRA revealed itself from within. We knocked them down, wiped them out, and ever since, we’re just … peddling along. Our government is pretty corrupt.”

“Sounds like you have a lot of work in your world,” Steve sighed. He closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wished he could help, that he could somehow make his alternate’s world a better place, but that was a naïve thought. “We’ll get you back.”

Other Steve smiled sharply. “That’d be great.”

• • •

The portal had appeared for just a few seconds. By the time The Avengers showed up, it had already collapsed in on itself, much to alternate-Steve’s frustrations. He’d screamed all the air out of his lungs as he’d emptied an entire magazine into one the warriors’ heads.

For a brief moment, they had all stood around, watching in shock as blood and brain matter splattered onto Steve’s beard and arms, but then they’d jumped into action, because they needed to deal with twenty-something alien warriors.

It took them an hour.

Steve wiped blood off of his cheek. He didn’t know how it got there, but he noticed because the smell was … off. He stared at the tips of his fingers and noticed how the texture was thicker than regular blood. It seemed to be combined with … oil? He took a quick whiff and, yes, that was definitely oil.

“You okay?” Tony came to stand in front of him, his dark brown eyes instantly searching for any wounds. He directed Steve’s face upwards by tipping his chin back. Concern lined his features, but when he saw it wasn’t Steve’s blood on his face, he relaxed.

“I’m fine,” Steve assured him, “Look at this.” He showed the blood on his hand to him.

Tony removed one of the metal gloves of his suit and wiped a finger over Steve’s. He rubbed it between is thumb and pointer finger. “These warriors,” He started, glancing around and looking at the dead alien warriors surrounding them, “I don’t think they are completely human.”

“They aren’t.”

Both Steve and Tony spun around to find their guest pulling arrows out of dead bodies. “Does your Clint recollect this stuff after?” He wiped the arrows clean on his trousers, like it was the most normal action in the world. Steve had seen a lot since he’d defrosted, but the last 24 hours were just blowing his mind. “My Clint was fanatic about it. We all had to help recollect them after.”

“Let’s go back to ‘they aren’t’,” Tony said.

The guy stared at them before giving a noncommittal reply: “What’s there to say?” He walked over to another body and pulled out another arrow. “I told you I’m dealing with a science geek over at my universe. He likes toying with portals and creating his own personal army.”

“These men, they’re human?” Steve felt bile rise up his throat.

“Used to be.” When he was done collecting arrows, he checked his weapons and already reloaded his guns. He was always ready for the next fight it appeared. “They were prisoners. A few years back, the first ones started disappearing. Later they turned up to fuck shit up, looking like they are now. Then more prisoners disappeared.” He looked at Steve. “I told you about my government, blondie–” Steve shouldn’t feel so insulted by that name, but somehow he _was_ blonder than his counterpart, “–we think they supplied him and now he’s got an army.”

“That’s …” Tony was speechless, which might be a first, “Rough.”

“We gotta get back to Stark Tower,” Steve turned his back to his counterpart and focused on Tony, “You need to work on creating a portal so this guy here can go back where he came from.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Tony smiled sweetly.

Steve leaned in closer and lowered his voice. “I don’t like the guy, which might be weird since he is me and I am him,” He confided, “But we’re nothing alike and he freaks me out.”

Tony tipped his head sideways and glanced at alternate-Steve past Steve’s shoulder. “You should consider growing a beard, though,” He said as he straightened his back again, “You can definitely pull it off.”

Steve almost punched him.

• • •

Of course he was stuck babysitting his counterpart. Well, no-one really appointed the task to him, but no-one made any intention of doing so either, so Steve took it upon himself, because someone had to keep an eye on the guy. He didn’t trust him. They were basically the same person, had the same DNA, but they were nothing alike.

He followed his alternate into one of the elevators and rode with him to the thirtieth floor of Stark Tower. Since he instantly turned left and headed for one of the guestrooms, Steve assumed there was an identical Stark Tower in his universe. He even knew the code to get into the room.

Despite being in desperate need of a shower himself, Steve stayed standing by the door and watched his alternate head into the bathroom. When he came back out two minutes later, he wore only black trousers and a dirtied white wifebeater. He’d freshened up a little, but blood still stained his arm.

That was when he realized it wasn’t a warrior’s blood, but his.

“You’re injured.” He pointed to the deep cut just above a tattoo that looked like … Wait what? Steve took a step forward, but before he could take another look, the guy pressed a hand against his arm. He grabbed a towel from the bathroom and then headed to the mini-bar by the window.

“It’s just a cut, it’ll heal,” He shrugged.

“Want me to take a look at it?”

“Fuck, do I look like a wimp?”

Steve pressed his lips tightly together and balled his hands into tight fists. It was unwise to start a screaming match, no matter how much he would enjoy it. He’d enjoy kicking his counterpart’s ass, too, but then he’d never forgive himself for turning to violence so quickly.

“That tattoo,” He started, deciding a change of topic would do them both some good, “Can I see it again?”

“Why? You thinking about getting one, too?” He checked if the cut was still bleeding and, once certain it wasn’t, he carelessly tossed the towel aside and threw on a black hoodie he must have found in the bathroom. Clearly he wasn’t the sharing type of guy, but Steve was sure he’d seen correct.

“It looked like Stark’s arc reactor.”

“Drunken night out.”

Steve smiled sharply. “We can’t get drunk.”

At that, his alternate turned his bright blue eyes on him, a silent order written very clearly in them; shut up – possibly with a few curse words tossed in there. But Steve was too stubborn to let this matter go. The guy seemed adamant about being a pain in his ass, so he gladly returned the favor.

His alternate sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s a homage,” He said through gritted teeth, “We all got one after he died. Happy now?”

Steve smelled bullshit. He really couldn’t imagine Clint getting a tattoo; something about his body being a temple he would never desecrate, so he couldn’t imagine any other Clint getting one. Then again, _he_ would never get a tattoo, but his alternate-self definitely would. But he’d pressed enough buttons for one day. And it was obvious Tony was a sensitive subject. He couldn’t help but remember how the guy’s eyes had lingered on Tony when he’d first seen him.

Alternate-Steve grabbed a bottle of scotch from the mini-bar, unscrewed the top, and took a generous gulp. He held it out for Steve to take – Steve who politely declined by shaking his head. “I need fresh air.” He took another generous gulp before setting the bottle down. “Are you gonna stop me or am I going to have to punch my way past you?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Out.” He stepped around the bar and approached Steve who, for one brief moment, really thought he was going to get a fist to the face. “Let’s go find a fucking bar! ‘Cause really, you gotta loosen up. Are you always this fucking serious?”

Steve didn’t know why that comment made his cheeks flush red. “Do you always swear this much?”

Alternate-Steve grinned from ear to ear. “Only around people I can’t stand.”

It was enough to draw half a smile from him. “Good.”

• • •

This was not what Steve had in mind when he’d decided to join his alternate to go out and get a drink. After having been guided through alleys and abandoned streets in New York City, he arrived in the kind of place he thought didn’t exist around here. It was filthy, yet quiet, and everyone walking by looked like they were hiding something.

“Where are we?” He asked after he was sure he’d just seen two young men exchange drugs for money. For a brief moment, he’d wanted to intervene, but his alternate had grabbed his arm and pulled him along without saying a word.

“Some places exist everywhere,” Alternate-Steve said. The sky above them had grown grey. It was only a matter of time before it would start to rain. “It doesn’t matter what universe you’re in, there are three things men will always want and pay for: sex, booze, and drugs.”

The words didn’t land at first – he was too busy staring at a girl who couldn’t be older than eighteen. She stood underneath an overhang, already hiding against the soon-to-be falling rain, and she was rolling a joint. She wasn’t even subtle about it.

And _then_ the words hit.

“What?” Shock vibrated through his voice.

“Come on, blondie,” Other Steve said, throwing him a piercing look, “Don’t tell me that, besides having a stick up your ass, you’re also naïve.”

“I’m not–” He didn’t know why he would bother arguing. He closed his mouth and grunted instead. The first drops of rain fell from the sky and Steve flipped up the collar of his leather vest before shoving his hands into the pockets. He was feeling irritated and frustrated, because he really, _really_ didn’t like his counterpart, and he had no idea what he had planned. “Where are we going?”

“There.” He nodded towards a house at the corner of the alley. The chipped paint and boarded up windows didn’t exactlygive off a warm and welcoming feeling. “I take it they won’t know you?”

“You assume correctly,” Steve said dryly.

“Well, we’re good-looking so I’m sure they’ll let us in anyway.” Alternate-Steve walked up the red front door and knocked twice, waited, and knocked twice again. It was some kind of code and apparently it was correct, because the door swung open to reveal a broad, bald man; a bouncer. “Will fifty do?”

The bouncer’s eyes shifted between the two of them. “Twins?”

Alternate-Steve smiled broadly. “And we’re looking for fun.”

Steve had to suppress the urge to lower his head and hide his face in his hands. What if a reporter saw him here? He could already imagine tomorrow’s headlines: ‘Captain America visits shady-looking establishment!’ Tony would have a field day with that. Steve could already imagine the front page of the newspaper neatly framed and hanged in Stark Tower’s lobby.

“Sure.” The bouncer held out his hand and, after receiving a fifty-dollar-bill, he stepped aside and let them in.

It was nothing like Steve had expected, but a part of him wasn’t even surprised anymore. An upbeat song boomed through several stereos and spotlights were directed towards a stage in the corner of the dark room. Small table lights illuminated a dozen faces, everyone’s attention focused on the woman currently undressing with rhythmic movements.

“A strip-club?” Steve exclaimed. His eyes went wide with disbelief.

“It’s whatever you want it to be.”

Steve’s gaze drifted to the bar on the other side of the room. More men sat there watching the woman, all of them with a drink in their hand. At the far end of the bar, a guy was sniffing a line of what had to be coke.

“No,” Steve shook his head fervently, “We are leaving.”

“Fine, go!” Alternate-Steve unzipped his jacket and stepped to one of the tables by the boarded up window. He definitely had no intention of returning to Stark Tower any time soon. “God, I can’t believe I turned into such a pussy in this universe!”

“ _We_ means you and I,” Steve argued.

Truly, this was one step too far. So his counterpart was this big badass idiot who liked tattoos and alcohol and, apparently, strippers, but that didn’t mean Steve was just going to let him do whatever he wanted to do. It didn’t matter that this was normal in the guy’s universe. It wasn’t normal here, not for him.

A sudden pull at his wrist had him stumbling onto the red, velvet couch, and right beside his alternate-self who was grinning wickedly. The guy leaned back and spread his arms out over the edges of the couch, like he owned the place. Hell, maybe in the other world, he did. _Nothing_ would surprise Steve anymore.

“Shut the fuck up,” Other Steve ordered, “And I’ll pay you a lap dance.”

“Don’t even think about–”

He didn’t get around to finishing his sentence, because a pretty blond had sauntered over to their booth, wearing nothing but a bikini that left little to one’s imagination. She placed a hand to her hip and pushed her shoulders back, putting emphasis on breasts that couldn’t possibly be natural.

“Can I help you, boys?” She asked sweetly.

His _‘twin’_ curled a hand around her wrist and pulled her down onto his lap. “Definitely.”

“–not.” Steve jumped up and away from the table, because he didn’t want to be too close to his counterpart who looked about ready to dry hump. “I’ll be outside when you’re … done … here.” He didn’t want to think about everything ‘done’ could entail.

“Prude,” Other Steve threw his way.

Steve couldn’t care less. He needed to get out of this place. It was too dark, the air was too thick, and he really doubted the legality of this business. So he shoved his way past the bouncer, ignoring the suspicious look he threw his way, and inhaled sharply when he felt rain splatter onto his face. He felt nauseous. And lost. Was he even still in New York City?

After a few minutes of catching his breath and letting his stomach settle down, he fished his cell phone out of the pocket of his vest and scrolled down his contact-list to Tony’s number. Why he wanted to call him, he didn’t know. Tony would probably just laugh when he heard Steve explain the situation to him.

But he never had the chance to actually the dial the number. The door behind him opened again and his alternate-self walked out of the house. The annoyed expression on his face was all the guy needed to get across how much he wanted to punch Steve in the face.

“You win, asshole,” He said through gritted teeth as he flailed his arms around, “But fuck, you spoil all the fun!”

Steve couldn’t prevent a small, pleased smile from curving the edges of his lips upwards. “Can we go now?”

“Sure, but I’m getting drunk at Stark’s Tower.”

Steve threw him a sorrowful look. “We can’t get drunk.”

“Oh yeah.” The guy threw his head back and rubbed a hand over his face. “Well, I’m gonna try anyway.”

• • •

“There you are!” Tony approached them as soon as they arrived on the thirtieth floor of Stark Tower. He had a glass of whiskey in his hands and wore casual clothes; blue jeans and a dark red shirt. He wasn’t wearing any shoes and the tips of his fingers still had dirt and oil on them, so Steve knew he’d spent the whole day tinkering away in one of the many science labs. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Steve didn’t miss how his alternate-self hung back suddenly, seemingly mesmerized by a painting adorning the wall beside the elevator, but he made no mention of it. He understood it had to be hard for his alternate-self to look at Tony and know that his Tony was dead. Well, not _his_ Tony, but – Steve stopped himself.

“We were out.” He just wanted to end this day. After battling alien warriors and visiting a part of New York City he thought only existed in noir books anymore, he was done. He just wanted to take a shower, eat something, and sleep. “Did you make any progress with–”

“Out?” Tony interrupted. “Without me?”

“It’s a long story,” Steve sighed.

“Where’d you go?”

“Just a bar,” Steve lied, because he really didn’t want to deal with Tony’s hysterical laughter. He was too tired. “Anyway–”

“A whorehouse,” Came his alternate-self’s voice.

Tony’s eyes widened in shock and … Steve couldn’t be sure, but Tony might actually look impressed. He wouldn’t know. Tony wasn’t easily impressed so it wasn’t a look he was familiar with. Still, he didn’t like it, and he sent his other-self an annoyed glance.

Alternate-Steve shrugged like he didn’t understand what he’d done to earn Steve’s ire, but the grin on his face cancelled that out. God, he liked to stir things up!

“You went– But you’re– Without–” Tony’s mind seemed to have frozen, which hardly ever happened, and which, frankly, shouldn’t be so adorable. Tony was stuttering out the words and blinking furiously as he tried to wrap his head around it. “You do realize prostitution is illegal, right?”

“Don’t worry,” Alternate-Steve said matter-of-factly, “He ran out of there in under two minutes.”

Steve really needed the guy to shut up now.

Tony smiled broadly. “That’s my boy.” Then the smile vanished and was replaced with a deep frown. “Wait; there are still brothels in New York?”

“If you know where to look for them, yes,” Alternate-Steve said.

“Okay!” He was done with this conversation. Either he would change the topic or he was out of here. But Tony’s attention instantly snapped back to him, only seriousness in his eyes, so Steve quickly continued now that he had the opportunity. “Are you making any progress with the portals?”

“I have three PhD’s, but none of those are on physical cosmology,” Tony said as if that was all Steve needed to hear to answer his question.

“In other words: you’re nowhere yet,” Steve sighed. He lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. The idea that he might be stuck with his alternate-self for days to come, weeks perhaps, had a shiver run down his back, and not in a good sense.

“I’m trying, Steve,” Tony said.

“I know, I know.” Steve lowered his hand and gazed into Tony’s eyes. “Have you considered bringing in an expert?”

“We don’t know anyone who could–”

“Tony,” Steve interjected, “Call Dr. Foster.”

Tony’s eyes widened with realization. “Of course!” He hit himself on the head, hard. “Her work on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge is unparalleled! If she understands wormholes that connect one place in this universe to another, then she might understand how it works when we involve a whole alternate universe!”

“Now you’re thinking,” Steve smiled proudly.

“And she worked on the convergence,” Tony continued. He resembled a Duracell Bunny as he was practically jumping up and down – which Steve did not find adorable in the least! More annoying, really. “The whole field of astrophysics is being reshaped because of her!”

“That all sounds interesting …” Alternate-Steve finally pushed himself away from the wall he’d been leaning against with one shoulder and moved to stand beside his lookalike, “… but does that mean you know someone who _can_ create a portal?”

“If anyone can, it’s Jane,” Tony said with only conviction in his voice. He turned around and hurried down the hall, undoubtedly heading for the science labs again. Steve had a feeling he wouldn’t see him again for a few days at least, not until Natasha came to beg him for help. Then he would be forced to drag Tony out and into the kitchen to jam some decent food down his throat.

He caught his alternate staring at Tony’s back with a beaten-down expression on his face.

“You okay?” He asked carefully.

Bright blue eyes snapped towards him, wide and startled. “Of course I am.” The words left him too quickly, betraying his unease. “Why the fuck wouldn’t I be okay?” And with that, he stormed off.

Steve stood alone in the hallway, momentarily confused about what just happened, but then he realized that his alternate-self was crazy and that it was pointless to try and understand him. Still, he felt sorry for him. He’d lost so much, so many people including Tony who had obviously been dear to him, and now he had to face him every day, knowing he had to return to a world without him.

Inhaling deeply and slowly exhaling, Steve headed back to the elevator, craving peace and quiet his personal rooms offered. And as he rode to the fiftieth floor of Stark Tower, he considered himself lucky, because he still had his team.

He still had Tony.

• • •

Jane arrived nearly two days later. Steve hadn’t properly met her, but after a short conversation – Tony had swept her off to show her the science labs three minutes after she had arrived at Stark Tower – he understood why everyone liked her so much. She was polite and kind and, truth be told, he was convinced she was smarter than Tony. She was just modest about it.

His alternate hadn’t been present. Natasha had asked him if he wanted to meet Jane, but he’d made a weak excuse of wanting to train to stay fit. None of them had made a problem out of it, but Steve couldn’t help but feel worried. He didn’t know why he bothered. His alternate-self was a dick.

But still he made his way to the fifty-second floor where the gym was. It was almost midnight so all the lights had been turned off since there wasn’t anyone around anymore. Except for the light in the corner of the area where a punching bag hung attached to the ceiling.

His alternate-self wore shorts and the back and front of his grey shirt was drenched with sweat. His blond hair stuck to his forehead. His hands were neatly taped in and he was ferociously beating the crap out of the punching bag. Every time his fist hit the leather, a dull thud echoed through the room.

For one brief moment, his alternate’s eyes flickered towards him, but then he was once again focusing on the punching bag. Steve wasn’t sure what he wanted to achieve here. Maybe he should just turn around and leave, but then … Someone had to look after the guy. He acted tough and cursed a lot, but Steve had caught him in a few vulnerable moments already.

“What do you want?” Alternate Steve landed a particularly well-aimed blow.

“Dr. Foster is here.” Steve didn’t know why he said that since the guy obviously knew Jane had arrived an hour ago. “They’ll start work in the morning so hopefully we can send you home soon.”

“That’d be great.” He didn’t sound very enthused. On the other hand, he didn’t seem like a guy who ever got enthused about anything, save perhaps about whorehouses. But Steve understood. He wouldn’t be happy to return to a universe where practically everyone he knew was dead or gone either.

“I’m sorry, you know,” He said softly.

His alternate-self stopped and threw him a dark glare.

But Steve wasn’t done yet. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to fight as hard as you do even when you’ve already lost so many–”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Alternate-Steve stepped away from the punching bag and began unwinding the tapes around his hands. His chest was heaving ever so slightly and sweat dripped down the sides of his face. “Wouldn’t want you to go all sentimental on me, blondie.”

Again with the blondie! Steve’s jaw locked in place and his hands turned to fist. “I’m not being sentimental,” He forced out, “Have you never heard about sympathy?”

“Whatever.” Alternate-Steve stuffed the tapes into a bag and swung it over his shoulder. “I’m gonna go take a shower and jerk off.”

Steve rolled his eyes so hard he thought they’d get stuck and he’d never be able to see again. The look of utter disgust amused his counterpart, too, and Steve wanted to punch him – actually, physically punch him. In the face. Preferable with that punching bag. God, never before had he hated someone this hard. Not even the Red Skull, so that was saying much.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, blondie.” His alternate-self knocked his hand twice against his shoulder as he walked by.

Steve couldn’t bring himself to move – not even when his counterpart switched off the light above him on his way out and left him standing in complete darkness.

Asshole!

• • •

He was angry. No, scratch that. He was beyond angry. He was livid. All that he wanted was to be a nice guy, but his alternate was apparently adamant about being a dick, and Steve wanted to choke the life out of him. He usually wasn’t such a hate-bearing creature, but his alternate-self just didn’t leave him a choice.

He didn’t know why he was heading towards the surveillance room exactly. He’d asked Friday where Tony was at and she’d directed him there, but Steve wasn’t sure what he wanted from the guy. Did Tony even have time to listen to his frustrations right now? He was probably doing a last check on the building, to see if everything was alright, before he’d head for bed.

If he were a good friend, he’d leave him alone. But his alternate-self had seriously pissed him off and Steve needed to vent. And Tony was usually good at calming people down. He’d calmed Bruce a few times when Natasha had been unavailable. And he’d calmed Rhodey after the guy had learned he’d broken up with Pepper, the one good thing in his life as Rhodey had called it – besides being part of a superhero-team.

Steve rounded a corner and got sight of the surveillance room. Since most of the Avengers had moved in – with the exception of Bruce still gone and Clint having returned home for a while – Tony was adamant about making sure Stark Tower was the safest place to be in New York.

Without thinking, Steve, still very much livid, barged into the small surveillance room – only to find Tony darkening all the screens suddenly and covering his … Oh God! Steve spun around and pressed both his hands to his face.

“Oh my–” He didn’t know why he was heating up so much, a dark-red flush creeping up his neck and cheeks. He shouldn’t be the one to feel so embarrassed, really. “I’m so sorry,” He said anyway, unmoving, not daring to remove his hands. He should be walking out of here and he would, any moment now, but he found himself frozen in place.

“Shit, Steve, I’m sorry you had to … you know …” Tony quickly turned on the lights.

“I should have knocked.” Steve slowly turned around and glanced at Tony through his fingers. Once he knew he was decent again, he lowered his hands and cleared his throat. “I wasn’t thinking and–” Wait. Steve’s gaze turned to the dark screens of the surveillance monitors.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Tony’s voice was just a tad too high. He sounded startled and ashamed and scared. Steve didn’t miss the scared-part.

He stepped up to the controls, ignored Tony’s desperate ‘no’, and switched on the screens again. The small ones were unimportant. The center one, a 14-inch screen, was what made Steve’s mouth drop open and had his stomach twist uncomfortably. He looked back at Tony, shocked and disgusted and enraged, to find his head down, avoiding his eyes.

Too stunned to think or act straight, Steve looked back at the center screen. His alternate-self stood underneath a strong spray of water. His tattooed back was turned to the camera – thank God for that – and one hand was pressed against the wet tiles of the shower-stall. His head hung low and, judging by the quick movements of his other arm, Steve concluded he’d set a fast, frantic rhythm of jerking off.

He quickly turned the screens off again.

“You are a sick and twisted little bastard.” He thought he tasted bile on the back of his tongue.

“Shit, Steve, I’m sorry–”

“Does anyone even know you have cameras installed in the public bathrooms?” When he turned back to his colleague, Tony was still looking at his feet. “This is a massive invasion of his privacy!” He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes until he saw a thousand stars dance before him. Tony’s action shocked him, but what shocked him even more was the fact that it was his _alternate_ he was spying on.

Was he jealous?

Oh, fuck.

Did he just swear in his mind?

“Goddammit, Tony!” He lowered his hands.

“I’ll remove the cameras.”

“You better!”

He spun around and fully intended to storm out of there, but then … He glanced over his shoulder at him. Those big brown puppy eyes were directed at him and he suddenly felt his knees go weak a little – which he refused to let happen! God, he should throw Tony to the wolves – the wolves being Natasha who would devour him whole.

“Who?”

A frown creased Tony’s brow.

“You’ve been watching Natasha?”

“God no!” Tony seemed honestly appalled by that idea, so Steve believed him.

“Thor?”

Tony shook his head. “I’ll tell you, but you won’t like the answer.”

No, Steve refused to deal with this. “Don’t spin lies now, Tony,” He said with a tight voice, “I caught you, so don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve–”

“Not the first time.” Tony took a step forward, towards him, only to stop. His hands were twitching at his sides. “You’re right; I am a sick and twisted little bastard. It’s been a while since I got laid and the one guy I actually wanna get laid with doesn’t show any interest.”

Doesn’t show any interest? Steve had absolutely no idea what he was hearing. Sure, there was … something between them, but this … _This_ … Steve felt like he was going to burst from his skin. “So you’ve been watching me?”

“You’re missing the point,” Tony noted dryly.

Steve threw his hands up in the air, exasperated, and began pacing the floor. “You’re twisting this all around!” Was this day ever going to end? All he’d wanted was to vent to Tony about his alternate-self and then head to bed, but now he was stuck having a fight he really didn’t want to have. “This isn’t about you and me. This is about your voyeuristic tendencies. This is about you watching _him!_ ”

Tony’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Are you jealous?”

“Not the point!” Steve shrieked.

“I won’t watch him again, Steve, I swear–”

“Work on the portals,” Steve hissed and, this time, his fury silenced Tony, “Get him–” He pointed at the dark center screen, “–back to his own world, because I’m sick and tired of him. Honestly, I came here to vent about him, that’s it, but instead I had to catch you masturbating to him taking a shower. That is wrong on so many levels and I won’t get any sleep for days to come. You, Tony Stark, are horrible.”

Not the best of any angry rants, but it was all he had left in him. He stormed out of the surveillance room, ignoring Tony calling his name, and made his way to the elevator. He was done for today. He was done for a whole week, probably. He needed people to leave him alone.

He’d never be able to look Tony in the eye again.

That was what crushed him the most.

• • •

It was good he’d asked Friday to keep him updated on his alternate’s whereabouts. As soon as she announced that he was wandering the hallways of Stark Tower, heading for the science labs according to her trajectory-calculations, Steve jumped out of bed, threw on the first set of clothes he could lay his hands on, and hurried from his personal rooms.

He didn’t trust his bearded copy and he certainly didn’t like the idea of him all alone in the science labs at – he glanced at his wristwatch – three in the morning.

By the time he arrived on the right floor, his alternate had already entered the labs using voice-recognition. Steve felt slightly betrayed by the security programs. All the lights inside the labs had been turned on and, as soon as Steve entered, he spotted his counterpart. The guy was roaming around at the back, seemingly not doing anything, but that meant nothing.

“I don’t need a babysitter, you know.” Alternate-Steve picked up one of the laser guns Tony had collected after the first battle. Tony was still trying to figure out how they worked exactly. The only conclusion he’d made so far was that whoever had made them was pretty damn smart.

“What are you doing here?” His voice didn’t hide his annoyance. He was still getting over the fact that he’d caught Tony watching him take a shower. So maybe he _was_ jealous of the guy – not that he would ever admit it to anyone. He approached him and snatched the laser gun from his hands, setting it back down. “It’s the middle of the night.”

“What are _you_ doing here?”

Steve refused to roll his eyes. He’d done quite enough of that the past few days. “Friday warned me,” He explained, “Is there a reason you’ve broken into the science labs at this hour?”

The guy shot him a vexed look. “I couldn’t sleep, alright? And I didn’t break in.” He picked up another laser gun, one Tony had completely taken apart and put back together, but differently. “Friday let me in, blondie.”

“I’m not going to discuss this.” Because it was three in the morning and he shouldn’t even be talking to his counterpart. He’d been avoiding him as much as possible lately, but now that he stood before him and those bright blue eyes were trained on him, a glint of amusement in them, Steve was suddenly reminded again of how much he hated the guy. “Either you return to your guestroom or I’m just going to throw you in one of our cells.”

At that, alternate-Steve’s eyes widened, surprised and impressed. “Fuck, where is the sympathizing blonde?”

The smile Steve produced was sharp and tight. “I’m done trying to be your friend. Your world is screwed, that sucks, but you’ve been nothing but a pain in my ass, and really, if you give me one more reason, I _will_ punch you.”

“Well, look at you.” Only the surprise remained in his gaze. He placed the laser gun down and turned to Steve. “If you were to take that stick out of your ass once and again, you could actually be fun.”

This time, Steve did roll his eyes.

Alternate-Steve moved too fast to be stopped. His fist knocked against Steve’s shoulder, pushing him back until his back slammed against the wall. His counterpart fisted the collar of his shirt and used his body to trap Steve, pressing him up against the wall.

“What are you–?”

His alternate-self’s lips crashed against his, hard and rough. Startled, Steve parted his lips to protest, only to feel a warm and wet tongue licking at his teeth and gums. He could feel his alternate’s body rolling against his, hot and taut, and Steve swallowed away the moan that threatened to escape from him, because God knew how long it had been since someone had been so close to him, physically.

Alternate-Steve’s grip on his shirt tightened and he deepened the kiss, his tongue running against his – which was wrong, so wrong, but the feeling of his lower lip being sucked in between his counterpart’s teeth and the biting down had him responding.

When the man’s lips dragged down the side of his neck, Steve released a shuddering breath and tried to push him away. He really tried, but all that happened were his hands grasping at his shirt like he was holding on to dear life itself. The feeling of his beard scratching against his neck had a shiver run down his back, and then his alternate-self bit down into his skin, just above his collarbone.

Steve hissed and closed his eyes.

Other Steve’s tongue swirled around the bite-mark and sucked at it, ever so slightly, and then he pulled back, leaving Steve panting against the wall.

The grin on his face was lethal. “You liked that, huh?” He ran a hand through his somewhat longer and darker blond hair, smoothing it back. “Someone needs to roughen you up a bit. This is the most fun we’ve had together since we met.”

Then he left. Just like that.

At least this time he didn’t turn off the lights on his way out.

Steve’s mind wasn’t working properly anymore. He pressed the back of his hand against his lips and wondered what the hell just happened. He still hadn’t moved and he doubted his legs were working right now. Nothing was working right now.

His lips tingled in the aftermath of the rough kiss. Steve couldn’t remember the last time he’d been kissed like that.

It was strangely … arousing.

No, it was wrong.

Very wrong.

 _He_ was a sick and twisted little guy.

Steve cleared his throat and pushed himself away from the wall, testing his legs. They seemed to work well enough, so he stepped around the workbench, keeping a hand on the edge to steady himself, only for his gaze to catch one of the many cameras inside the lab.

Shit.

Did Tony see that?

• • •

Tony saw.

As soon as Steve walked into the kitchen the next morning, after a restless night, Tony’s gaze snapped away from the newspaper spread out on the kitchen table to him. His dark brown eyes widened; that was all Steve needed to know that he’d seen everything.

Without saying a word, he walked towards the sink and picked up a clean mug from the dish-rack. He really needed caffeine right now, especially when he felt Tony’s gaze practically burning his back.

“It meant nothing,” He said after a long silence. He poured his mug full of black coffee, nearly all the way to the rim, because at this point, he truly considered drowning in the hot liquid. “Whatever you saw, it was nothing.”

He turned back to Tony to find the corners of his lips quirking upwards ever so slightly. Did he think this whole mess was funny? On the one hand, it wouldn’t surprise Steve should Tony burst with laughter. On the other hand, if he really would, Steve was going to choke the life out of him. Nothing about this mess was _funny_.

“It was definitely something,” Tony remarked. He picked up his own mug and sipped from his coffee.

Steve took a seat on the opposite side of the table and slid the sugar bowl closer towards him. Caffeine and sugar sounded just about the perfect combination right now, because not even an ice cold shower had thoroughly woken him.

“How did you even see?” He dropped a sugar cube into his mug and began stirring it with a little spoon. “Were you spying on him again, hoping he’d drop his pants in your science lab?”

Tony snorted. “I don’t tolerate sex on my work-bench unless it involves me,” He smirked. Steve actually believed that. “So no, I wasn’t spying. Friday warns me when there’s violence in the Tower, so when he slammed you up against the wall, she alerted me.”

Steve believed that, too. He dropped another sugar cube in his mug. “He enjoys stirring things up.” His gaze was fixed on the spoon he kept circling around in his coffee and the sugar he dropped in it. “Honestly, I don’t understand why he loves being such an asshole, because he definitely loves it.”

“Yeah, I can tell he likes messing with you.”

“I won’t let him get to me.”

“Steve.” Tony reached across the table and curled his fingers around Steve’s wrist, preventing him from taking another sugar cube. “You already added five cubes.”

“Oh.” Steve sighed and, after Tony’s touch disappeared, he dropped his head in his hands. He felt exhausted. “Is it just me or does he mess with you or with Clint, too?”

“No, he avoids me.” Tony closed his newspaper and focused entirely on his teammate. “But I guess that’s normal. I’m dead over there, so of course he wouldn’t want to look at me too much. I just remind him of what he no longer has, because he and Tony over there definitely had something going on.”

Steve nodded. It wasn’t hard to miss that.

“But he and Natasha played poker two nights ago,” Tony continued, “She said he was pretty normal besides the foul mouth and the obvious alcohol-problem.”

“Well, Natasha is scary in any universe,” Steve said, a hint of amusement to his voice, because talking to Tony actually helped. He already felt better. “I doubt he messes with his Natasha.”

“Very true,” Tony smiled.

“Tony, you gotta send him back.” There was desperation to his voice and eyes now. He pushed his coffee aside – five sugar cubes was a bit much – and leaned forward. He nearly reached out to touch Tony’s hand, but he stopped himself. He hadn’t forgotten yet what had happened a few nights ago in the surveillance room. “Please tell me that you and Jane are making progress.”

“We are,” Tony assured him, “We just need a bit more data, but then we’re set to go. It would help if we had the Tesseract as a power source, but we make do with what we’ve got.”

“This data,” Steve said, “How do you get it.”

Tony licked his lips and shifted in his seat.

“Oh,” Steve sighed, “There needs to be another portal.”

“Look at it this way–” Tony stood and refilled his mug. He took another clean mug from the dish-rack, filled it with coffee, too, dropped one sugar-cube in it and set it down before Steve. “–Maybe you’re alternate-self can just return to his own universe when another portal shows up. The problem would be fixed on its own.”

Steve threw Tony a thankful smile and sipped from the black goodness. He almost moaned.

“Then Jane and I can focus on preventing portals from ever opening up again.”

That sounded pretty good actually, because Steve wouldn’t survive dealing with another situation like this again. “You better get to work soon, because every minute that the other me is around is a minute too much.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“Keep an eye on him, because I don’t trust him.”

Tony reached out suddenly and pressed a finger to Steve’s neck, right above his collarbone. Steve was confused, didn’t understand why Tony was touching him, but he didn’t pull away. “You better cover up that bite mark, though,” Tony advised, “Because I’m pretty sure Clint will be adamant about knowing where it came from.” He withdrew his hand. “And it didn’t come from me, so I don’t like looking at it either.”

Steve lowered his head to hide the blush spreading across his cheeks and covered the mark with his hand. “I’m going to kill him,” He muttered.

“Stay strong, my dear,” Tony said grandly. He stood and put his empty mug in the sink. “We’ll send him back soon enough. Then everything can return to normal.”

Steve looked forward to ‘normal’.

• • •

Two days later – two days of keeping an eye on his alternate-self while simultaneously avoiding him, which wasn’t an easy feat – another portal appeared in the middle of New York City. Everyone jumped into one of Tony’s SUV’s and loaded their weapons as they prepared for another long and tiresome fight. According to the reports, twenty-five alien warriors had already slipped through the portal.

Somehow, it looked bigger this time around. Steve couldn’t instantly get close, four warriors blocking his path, but even from this far, he could see the portal was at least 10 feet high. It was wider, too.

With his shield, he shoved aside one warrior while he planted a bullet into another warrior’s head. He loathed this kind of violence, but bullets to brains and hearts were the only thing stopping these hybrids.

All around them, people were screaming, because of course the portal had appeared in one of the busiest streets of the city. Clint and Natasha were tasked with getting civilians off of the street to safety. Thor was busy bashing warriors’ skulls in a little to Steve’s left, and Tony was blasting away anyone who came through the portal that looked hostile – so everyone.

Steve’s eyes sought out his alternate-self. He hated that the guy was around, but if there was any chance he could just step through that portal and disappear from his life, he’d take it with both his hands. Unfortunately, Other Steve was cornered near Macy’s, a good 50 yards away from the portal, and there was no-one available to help him out and then throw him through the portal.

More alien warriors were streaming through the portal. Their number was too great for Tony to handle on his own and when the warriors got sight of him and started firing their laser guns at him, Steve felt his heart skip a beat – especially when a shot got Tony right in the arc reactor.

“Tony!” Steve shouted when Tony’s repulsors faltered and he dropped 5 feet through the air.

‘ _I got it!’_ Tony did _not_ look like he had it.

Punching an alien warrior in the face who tried to keep him back, Steve used the brief opportunity to run past him, uncaring that the hybrid was only momentarily dazed, and ran for the portal, closer to Tony. He threw his shield at the warrior threatening to fire at Tony again, this time seemingly aiming for his faceplate.

The shield knocked the laser gun out of the warrior’s hand before ricocheting back to him. Steve caught his favorite weapon with ease and proceeded to swallow heavily when all the warriors nearby turned their dead eyes to him. His hand tightened around the shield, but his heart calmed down when Tony landed besides him, ready to face the mass together.

“Are you ready, Captain?” Tony briefly looked at him, and Steve hated that he couldn’t actually see his face.

“Always,” He replied with half a smile playing around his lips.

They stormed forward and fought side by side. These were the kinds of fights Steve enjoyed the most. As much as he hated shooting half-machines/half-humans in the face and chest, he enjoyed fighting alongside Tony, knowing that the guy had his back and vice versa.

He got hit in the shoulder, the laser beam burning its way through his skin, and Tony swiftly aimed his hand-repulsors at the warrior responsible and blasted his face off. Steve groaned and glanced at the wound, but he’d suffered worse. He had to keep on fighting.

They were close to the portal now and Steve could see what was on the other side. The bright side was that not many more warriors seemed to be drumming to get to their universe. The not so bright side was that Steve’s chest constricted painfully when he once again spotted the utter destruction and ravage that was alternate New York City.

He didn’t have time to stare, though.

He shot another warrior in the chest and then quickly reloaded his gun for the third time since he arrived on site.

“Next time, you’re using one of my weapons,” Tony said breathlessly besides him, “The amount of times you gotta reload is ridiculous!”

Steve huffed out a brief laugh. He didn’t get the chance to reply, though, not when three alien warriors were throwing axes at him. He threw up his shield and made himself as small as possible. The axes bounced off against the vibranium. Steve quickly jumped back up and shot them through the heart.

“You think Jane will have all the data she needs now?” Steve asked in between dodging laser beams.

“Definitely.” Tony fired his hand-repulsors at a few warriors who tried to sneak up on Steve.

No more enemies were crossing universes – finally. Truth be told, Steve was getting sick and tired of these hybrids. One quick glance around and he estimated about twenty more were left. Thor had fought his way to alternate-Steve and they were fighting back to back now, much like he and Tony were doing right now.

He turned to look back at Tony, only for his gaze to fall on the other side of the portal. His heart stopped. Being as dumbfounded as he was, he made the mistake of lowering his shield, which an alien warrior saw and took advantage of. A well-aimed laser beam hit him in the side and Steve fell back, hissing at the burning pain.

“Steve!” Tony screamed.

Without hesitating, Steve rolled over and, leaning on his elbows, he glanced back up at the portal. He had to see him again, had to make sure his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him, but there he still stood; alternate-Tony looked nothing like Tony. His hair was longer and smoothed back, curling behind his ears, and he didn’t have an immaculately kept goatee, but a stubble covering half of his face instead.

His eyes, however, were what frightened him the most. They were dark and empty. Steve prided himself with the fact that he could read Tony like an open book – whether Tony allowed him to or not didn’t matter – but this Tony … Steve couldn’t connect with him, which unsettled him. He would have shouted at him, to tell him that his Steve was alright and well in their universe, but there was something about the way alternate-Tony stood unmoving that unnerved him.

When Tony actually threw himself over him to protect him against more laser beams, Steve returned to the present moment; right, a battle was going on. He had no choice but to tear his gaze away from alternate-Tony and focus on the remaining warriors trying to kill them. Thank God Tony was around, because Steve hardly remembered how a gun worked anymore apparently. He tried aiming for vulnerable parts, but he missed each time, because his eyes kept flickering back to the portal, but alternate-Tony was gone.

And so was the portal. It had flickered into non-existence.

Dammit! They had missed the chance of getting his alternate-self through the portal, and at this point, Steve really wanted the guy gone, because he had lied and nothing made sense anymore.

Clint killed the last hybrid using an explosive arrow and silence settled around them.

Everyone was catching their breaths.

Only Steve was livid. He spun around and ran towards his alternate-self who was leaning back against Macy’s window, hands resting on his knees, with Thor standing beside him.

“You lied!” He shouted once he was close enough.

Alternate-Steve straightened his back and sucked in a deep, stabilizing breath. “Yes, I tend to do that sometimes,” He said as his chest stopped heaving so much, “You’ll have to be more specific, though.”

Steve aimed his gun at his alternate’s head.

“Wow, okay!” Tony shrieked behind him, but he didn’t try and stop him. “Steve, what are you doing?”

“Give me one good reason why I should believe one more word coming out of your mouth?” Steve demanded. He couldn’t see himself, but he assumed he looked pretty damn angry, because his alternate-self lost all his humor and turned deathly serious. Good.

“You saw him,” Other Steve said softly.

“We missed a few things apparently.” Clint had joined them, along with Natasha, and his vibrantly colored eyes switched nervously between the two Captains. His bow twitched between his fingers, ready to be used at any given moment. “Someone care to explain what is going on?”

“Beats me,” Tony muttered.

“He said his Tony was dead,” Steve explained through gritted teeth. He had yet to lower his gun – or blink. He stared hard and unrelenting at his counterpart and, lo and behold, alternate-Steve actually cast down his eyes, unable to look him in the eye. “You said he died after the battle with the Chitauri, but I just saw him and he was very much alive.”

“This isn’t a conversation to have outside of Macy’s,” Tony jumped in – figuratively and literally, because he put himself in between Steve and alternate-Steve and pushed the gun Steve held down. “There are people around who’ve already seen enough for one day. Let’s not add this to their list, too.”

Tony had a point, as usual. Steve clicked the safety of the gun in place and stored it near the small of his back where he could easily take a hold of it should he need to – for example, should his counterpart try anything stupid. “We’ll return to Stark Tower,” He said coldly, “There you tell us everything.”

Alternate-Steve’s jaw locked in place, but he nodded anyway.

• • •

The ride back to Stark Tower happened in awkward silence. Clint was the unfortunate soul who had to take place in between the two Captains to make sure they didn’t start a fight in the back of the SUV. But alternate-Steve seemed smart enough to avoid as much contact with his counterpart as possible right now. He stared out of the tinted windows of the car and hardly made a sound. His hands were clenched tightly around knees, betraying his unease and irritation.

Not that he had any right to feel irritated, Steve found, but he kept that thought to himself. Instead, he focused on the burning pain on his shoulder and side where the alien warriors had shot him. The wounds were already healing, but the pain was still very much there, and Steve used it to keep his anger alive.

Once they arrived at the Tower, everyone jumped out of the car, desperate to escape the lethal tension that had been cutting through the air. Clint and Natasha headed for the medical bay since Natasha had a pretty bad cut just above her right eye that needed stitching. Thor muttered something about needing to wash brain matter off of his armor and hammer.

That just left him, Tony, and a lying, untrustworthy version of himself. They took the elevator to the thirtieth floor of the building and entered alternate-Steve’s guestroom. Alternate-Steve moved towards the window and gazed at the horizon. Tony stayed back by the door, a look of confusion on his face as he still didn’t entirely understand what was going on, and Steve stood in the middle of the room, only a couch separating him from his counterpart.

“So …” Tony’s voice broke the silence. “What exactly happened?”

“He lied.” Steve’s hands were balled into fists and he was barely breathing. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to charge at his alternate-self and punch a few answers out of him – which shocked him, because he wasn’t usually such a violent person, but it seemed alternate-Steve just brought out the worst in him. “Your Tony isn’t dead,” He said to his alternate-self.

“Yes, he is,” Alternate-Steve argued suddenly, heatedly, as he spun around to stare at him, long and hard. “My Tony died when he fell through the wormhole, because when he woke up, he was a different person. I didn’t recognize him anymore.” His gaze snapped towards Tony by the door for one brief moment, before it focused back on Steve. “That’s Tony,” He said as he pointed at the billionaire by the door. The words seemed to physically hurt him as he spoke them. “He’s an arrogant bastard most of the time and hardly ever knows when he should shut up, but he’s a good man and he only wants to do what’s right.”

It wasn’t what Steve had expected and he didn’t know how to react. He parted his lips a few times, thinking he should really say something, only to settle on silence.

Alternate-Steve turned back to the window and buried his face in his hands.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” Tony whispered behind him.

Steve nodded once. Ever since his counterpart had arrived, he’d been avoiding Tony, and now it was clear why – or almost clear. Steve still didn’t understand everything. But he did understand that Tony’s presence was upsetting and, as much as he hated to see him leave the room, it was for the best.

“My Tony became …” Alternate-Steve dropped his hands and sighed heavily. “… obsessive.” He took a cigarette out of the pocket of his combat trousers and placed it between his lips. His hands shook. “After Loki’s attack, he became obsessed with protecting the world. I tried to help him, tried to make him see reason, but Tony … He saw threats everywhere.”

Steve sank down on the couch without a word. He let the man tell his story.

“That’s why he created Ultron, even tricked Bruce into helping him, and it was everything he could have hoped for. Of course, we didn’t understand yet. We believed Tony when he said that Ultron wasn’t what he intended for.” Alternate-Steve finally turned back around and leaned a shoulder against the wall beside the window. He continued to smoke, his movements slow, his gaze distant as he was lost in memories. “I know your Wanda is still alive. Do you remember what she said to you after the derailed train in Seoul?”

“Yes.” Steve shifted in his seat. “She said Tony doesn’t know the difference between saving the world and destroying it.”

“It seems here, in this universe, someone helped him understand.” Alternate-Steve’s eyes snapped to him suddenly, wide and almost accusative, which Steve didn’t understand, but he said nothing. “In my universe, Tony went mad. He wanted to bring peace to the world, because only then would we be able to defend ourselves against extraterrestrial threats. And you know what? There is peace.” He sucked at his cigarette for a moment. “All those conflicts in the Middle East, they’re over, because half of the Middle East has been wiped out. Same goes for Africa and for Mexico and for Russia – Tony never liked Russia.”

“And you couldn’t stop him,” Steve said.

“I tried when we finally understood what Tony was doing exactly,” His counterpart said with regret filling his voice, “When reason didn’t help, I tried to kill him, which of course led to Tony questioning the whole team. If he couldn’t trust me, his partner, his lover–” His eyes turned impossibly cold, “–who could he trust?”

“No-one.”

“Exactly.” Alternate-Steve huffed out a soft, humorless laugh. “So he turned on us and on everyone else. By that time, he’d long made the deal with our corrupt government, and he had superhuman soldiers following his every order. We had to run and hide.” He dropped the cigarette to the floor and stomped it out. Steve said nothing about the burn mark it would create on the wooden floor. “Basically, my whole world is one giant dictatorship and Tony Stark as the leader. We try to fight him, try to end the madness, but … well … it’s Tony.”

“So all this time, when you said the bad guy in your universe is a science geek who likes to experiment, you were talking about Tony.” Steve still had trouble wrapping his head around the idea. He rose from the couch and took a step towards his counterpart – why he didn’t know.

“I never technically lied about that,” Alternate-Steve smiled cruelly.

“And all these warriors coming through the portals,” Steve continued, “They’re here to kill you.”

“Yes.” Alternate-Steve pushed himself away from the wall and turned completely to Steve, staring into his eyes. “I am his enemy number one. I betrayed him. I _failed_ him.” The more he spoke, the angrier he became. “Do you understand now why I hate you so much?”

Steve swallowed heavily.

“You’re the best version of me.” He ran a shaking hand through his dark blond hair and slowly closed the distance between them. His blue eyes darkened. “You’ve been the friend Tony needed, you’re the reason he hasn’t turned on you all. You _didn’t_ fail him like I have.”

“It’s not your fault–” Steve started, only for alternate-Steve to punch him right in the face. The force made him stumble back and he quickly reached up to cover his bloody nose, but the pain was nothing compared to the burning feeling on his shoulder and side earlier. The punch wasn’t what he cared about. “Friday, don’t alert Tony. Everything’s fine.”

“Fuck, you don’t even realize how lucky you are,” Alternate-Steve snapped at him.

“Is that why you keep messing with me?” Steve demanded as he lowered his hand. There wasn’t that much blood and his nose didn’t feel broken, so he focused entirely on his counterpart. “Because you think I deserve it? Or because you think _you_ deserve it?”

Alternate-Steve grabbed him by the collar and shoved him up against the wall. It was a familiar position, but Steve didn’t try and change it, not when alternate-Steve’s eyes were piercing his and betrayed so much self-hatred.

Still, with the wounds to his body and his now aching nose, Steve could have missed a sore head from where it had slammed against the wall. “Fuck, why the violence every time?”

Alternate-Steve’s eyes narrowed. “Did you just swear?”

“Well, your bad manners are finally rubbing off on me it seems.”

He should have expected it when his alternate-self kissed him, hard and rough and demanding, but he hadn’t and his mind instantly turned blank. He didn’t know why the man was kissing him, but then, none of his actions ever made sense. His beard scratched against Steve’s cheeks as his lips moved against his, prying them open so he could flick his tongue inside. The feeling of his alternate-self’s tongue running against his was what startled Steve out of the moment. He shoved the man away from him and stepped away.

“What is your fucking problem?” He asked, confused and angry, as he wiped a hand across his lips.

Alternate-Steve’s chest was heaving and his eyes stood wide and dark, his pupils blown wide. “Don’t you like it?” He asked with a sharp voice. There was madness to his gaze. “Don’t you think it so wrong and disgusting that it turns you on?”

“You’re sick in the head,” Steve breathed as he still tried to steady himself.

“Yes.”

Steve stared at him, incredulously, only to suddenly spot that self-hatred again. He recognized it, because he’d felt the same way before as well. He’d felt it when he’d been unable to save Bucky during World War Two. He’d hated himself when he’d almost failed to save Tony after he’d fallen through the wormhole and he’d hated himself when he’d been secretly happy that Tony had broken up with Pepper.

He’d been wrong all along. He didn’t loathe his counterpart because he was an asshole – well, it certainly added to the problem – but because he knew and understood him more than anyone else ever could, and that frightened him. It frightened alternate-Steve, too.

“This is all about Tony, isn’t it?” He asked after a short silence. His heart was still beating frantically against his ribcage and his legs were shaking.

Alternate-Steve nodded. “When isn’t it?”

“This is castigation,” Steve realized, “You want to punish yourself for failing him.”

“You think that’s the reason why I want to fuck you?”

“You’re looking for more reasons to hate yourself–” Steve started, but he never got to finish that train of thought, because his counterpart grabbed him and threw him onto the couch. Steve quickly sat up, only for alternate-Steve to climb on top of him and press him back down into the cushions. His dark blue eyes stared down at him, hard and demanding. Steve could hardly breathe. “You really want to screw me? So you can add it to your list of reasons?”

“You think you know me now?” His hands curled around Steve’s wrists and pinned them down on top of Steve’s heaving chest.

Steve nodded confidently. “Do it,” He said, the words spilling from his lips without really thinking them through, “It’s not like you get to fuck anyone else, is it? You don’t allow yourself. There’s just Tony, but he’s too busy trying to kill you. Anyone else, you don’t want to touch. But here I am, a cleaner version of yourself, so that’s allowed, right?”

“And here I thought I was screwed up,” Alternate-Steve grinned, “But look at you. You wouldn’t understand my thinking if you weren’t so messed up in the head yourself.”

“Well,” Steve shrugged – actually _shrugged_ , “I’ve seen my fair share of shit.”

At that, alternate-Steve growled and let go of Steve’s wrists so he could tear apart his shirt. Steve wasn’t sure what exactly they were doing – he didn’t allow himself to think too much about it – but he could feel his counterpart’s desperation and that was all he needed to know. His alternate-self was desperate for this, so he let him have it.

He scrambled at Other Steve’s pants, unzipping them, and quickly pushed down his hips. He was already semi-hard and when Steve pumped him once, twice, he bucked his hips forward, fucking Steve’s fist. Their position was awkward and the couch was too small, but like hell did they want to stop now and move to the bedroom.

Alternate-Steve bit down on Steve’s collarbone before sucking at the mark, drawing a muffled moan from Steve’s lips. He refused to already make whining little noises, even when his counterpart unbuttoned his pants and shoved a hand down them. Steve screwed his eyes shut and tossed his head back, still not making a sound except for heavy, labored breathing.

The cock in his fist was hard now and pre-cum gathered at the tip. Steve had jerked off in the privacy of his bedroom enough times to know what he liked, so he assumed he knew what his copy liked. Anatomically, they were identical.

“Will you …” He didn’t finish his sentence – couldn’t. He didn’t have enough air in his lungs, especially not after one finger was unceremoniously shoved inside of him, dry and rough. Steve gasped and parted his lips, wanting to suck in a deep breath, only for alternate-Steve to kiss him, his teeth sinking into his lower lip and tugging at it.

Steve pulled his hand back and instead wrapped his arm around his counterpart’s shoulders, making sure he was kept in place between his legs. Alternate-Steve didn’t seem to like the loss of Steve’s hand around his length as he growled and bucked his hips forward into empty air now. Their erections lined up together against Steve’s stomach, the friction enough to steal a soft moan from his lips. Dammit. He hadn’t wanted to make a sound.

“Fuck, you’re tight,” Alternate-Steve cursed. He pressed a second finger inside Steve’s ass, scissoring him to prepare him for something bigger.

Steve refused to think about what exactly he was doing. Or why. He forced away all rational thoughts and instead focused on his basic instincts. Tony would be proud. God, he shouldn’t think about Tony right now, but somehow the fantasy that it was Tony stretching him open with his fingers only added to his arousal. Steve pressed his hips down, wanting those fingers deeper inside of him.

“Just do it already!” He snapped.

“Yeah,” Alternate-Steve grinned above him, “You’re definitely a lot more fun like this.” He withdrew his fingers, causing Steve to groan at the sudden emptiness inside of him, and guided the tip of his leaking cock to his hole, prodding and teasing it, but not yet pushing in. One hand he used to hold onto the couch to steady himself and his other, he carded through Steve’s hair, tugging at it just hard enough to have tears sting his eyes. “I always knew the knight in shining armor was just an act,” He smirked, “Because as soon as you’re on your back, you’re just a wanton whore, aren’t you?”

“Takes one to know one,” Steve accused.

Alternate-Steve laughed, the sound actually warm, and then he pushed in, the movement swift, but vicious, and Steve cried out, only for alternate-Steve to silence him with a kiss. Steve eagerly returned it, sucking at the tip of his copy’s tongue while his hands wandered down his back.

The first time alternate-Steve pulled out a little and pushed back in, he was careful.

“Are you considerate all of a sudden?” Steve asked with a sharp voice.

“As you wish,” Alternate-Steve growled. He proceeded to set a fast and brutal pace, Steve rocking up and down the couch with a steady rhythm.

Steve’s nails dug in his counterpart’s back. His cock throbbed and twitched against his stomach and, each time he felt the tip of his lover’s cock press against his prostate, he thought for sure he would cum. He twisted beneath the hot, sweaty body, and buried his face into the crook of his neck. He sucked a mark into the flesh there.

Alternate-Steve’s rhythm faltered, but the sound of flesh slapping against flesh grew louder. A few more thrusts later, alternate-Steve came inside of him, his cum slicking the way for his cock as he continued to fuck him through his orgasm.

And Steve came, too, at the feeling of warm, sticky seed slipping from his ass. He didn’t know what words were escaping him, but apparently they were dirty, because his alternate-self looked pretty damn pleased about them before he kissed him again, licking his way into his mouth. Their bodies weren’t moving anymore, the only exception being their lips that moved against each other at a languid pace.

Steve could feel his heartbeat slowing down and, as it did, rational sense returned to him.

What on earth did he just do?

“God, you mess me up!” He exclaimed as soon as his counterpart broke the kiss apart and pulled out. The smell of sex thickened the air, which was why Steve couldn’t breathe properly. Or maybe it was guilt moving around his chest like a vicious claw that made it nearly impossible to inhale deeply. Then there was the shame and embarrassment that he’d actually giving into such desires with a version of himself from another universe.

Really, he should have listened to his thoughts _before_ he’d engaged in sex with–

There was a short knock on the door before it swung open a second later, Tony’s head popping around the edge. “Steve, can I– Oh dear!”

“Shit,” Steve cursed. He pushed at his counterpart’s chest. “Get off of me.”

Thank God alternate-Steve seemed done with messing around, because he instantly sat back, giving Steve room to jump up and get himself half-decent again. His shirt was torn apart so he quickly got rid of it, using the remnants to clean up the cum sticking to his skin. He tucked himself away and zipped up his trousers. On his way out of the room, he grabbed a hoodie lying on the table and quickly threw it on.

Tony stood by the elevator, impatiently pressing the call-button.

“Tony!” Steve called out. He hurried towards, only to halt when those big brown eyes turned to him, because he hadn’t really thought this through so he didn’t actually know what he wanted to say.

“Oh, hi, sorry about that.” Tony chuckled nervously and ran a hand through his hair. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and his gaze kept flicking back to the door, as if he expected alternate-Steve to appear any second. “If I had known you were busy, I wouldn’t have barged in like that, so I’m really–”

“No, I should be the one apologizing.” Steve took a step closer towards him. If he reached out a hand now, he could actually touch him, but he didn’t, because why on earth would Tony want to be touched by him anymore after he saw … that? It surprised him the disgust wasn’t physically dripping from Tony’s face. “To be honest, I don’t really know what happened in there.”

“Well, you’re single and he’s single.” Tony shrugged. “It’s a free country.”

“It’s wrong,” Steve said softly. He cast his eyes down.

“Hey, my ethical lines are often blurred,” Tony said. He pressed the tip of his finger to the underside of Steve’s chin and made him look up at him. Much to Steve’s surprise, the guy was smiling. “Besides, I don’t think you can call that sex. More like a twisted form of masturbation.”

A weak little laugh escaped him.

Tony’s hand moved to the side of Steve’s face and his finger brushed over his upper lip. Concern lined his features suddenly. “Did he hurt you?” He asked, and his eyes darkened at that thought. He looked seconds away from storming off and beating the crap out of alternate-Steve. “I distinctly remember leaving you without a bloody nose.”

“I’m fine,” Steve assured him. He curled a hand around Tony’s wrist and pushed his hand down. He didn’t deserve his concern or worried touches. “I really am sorry, you know.”

Tony frowned. “What for?”

“I feel like I’ve cheated on you,” Steve confessed as he cast down his eyes again.

“You’re not mine, Steve, we aren’t …” Tony inhaled sharply and then sighed heavily.

The elevator finally arrived and the doors slid open. Steve watched Tony get into the small cubicle. Something hard and heavy dropped on his stomach when the space in between them grew. He felt a little nauseous. He didn’t want Tony to leave him now, but he had no right asking him to stay either. When their gazes connected, Steve found Tony’s eyes wide and desperate, like there were a hundred different things he wanted to say, but he kept them all to himself.

The doors slipped shut again, and after Tony threw him a small, sad smile, the elevator brought him to a higher level of the Tower.

“God, you’re an idiot.”

Startled, Steve spun around to find his alternate-self standing in the doorway of the guestroom, leaning against the frame with one shoulder. His eyes held a disappointed look.

“If you were waiting for the right moment, that was it, you know,” He said as he shook his head.

Steve hated how much his counterpart was right. That _had_ been it; his chance to tell Tony that he wanted to be his that he wanted Tony to kiss him and touch him and love him, no matter how cheesy that sounded. But he’d let Tony get into that elevator and he hadn’t tried to stop him from leaving. Shit! Steve pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes until he saw a thousand stars.

Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t too late yet.

“Stay here,” He ordered his counterpart, and then he ran off.

He ran up ten flights of stairs, all the way up to the fortieth floor of the Tower, because he knew Tony would be here. There were only science labs here and, for the past few days, he had been holed up here with Jane. Completely out of breath and his legs shaking ever so slightly, he barged into the science lab at the end of the hall and instantly spotted Tony near the back of the room.

“Tony,” He said – or tried to say, because his voice was barely audible since he had absolutely no air in his lungs at the time. And he was nervous. He didn’t know what he was doing, really, and Tony looking dumbfounded didn’t help matters either. Still, Steve approached him, deciding that for once in his life _he_ had to take control of the situation instead of Tony who was usually the control-freak.

“Yes?” Tony asked.

Without another word, Steve folded a hand around the back of Tony’s neck and pulled him forward. Their lips met for a desperate kiss, and Steve could feel Tony instantly melting into his arms. Steve wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist and pulled him as close as possible. Tony’s hands fisted his shirt. Parting his lips, Steve eagerly let in Tony’s tongue which licked at his own, warm and wet, and Steve moaned loudly.

Tony tilted his head sideways a little to deepen the kiss. He sucked the tip of Steve’s tongue into his mouth and bit down ever so slightly. Steve began to feel light-headed, but he refused to break the kiss. This was as good as air.

Tony’s hand slipped to the small of his back and down the swell of his ass. He squeezed and growled when Steve bucked into the touch.

“Good Lord,” Tony breathed once the kiss broke apart.

Steve didn’t have any air or sense left in his body to utter a single word.

“Get a room you two!” Clint had entered the lab, holding a big mug of steaming coffee in his hand and a disgusted expression on his face – or he tried to go for disgust, but he couldn’t keep up the façade for very long and quickly looked more smug than anything else. “And _finally!_ Everyone was getting blue balls watching you guys.” Then he left the science lab.

“Thank you for that insightful comment!” Tony shouted after him.

There came a distant: “You’re welcome!”

Steve burst with laughter and dropped his head onto Tony’s shoulder. They had yet to move – Tony’s hand was still on his ass, too – and Steve quite liked that. He closed his eyes and used the moment of silence to collect himself. He still had trouble accepting that that really was Tony’s hand on his ass.

“I have news, actually.” Tony pulled back after a few long seconds and turned to one of the many devices lying on the workbench before them. Steve had absolutely no idea what they were meant for. “That’s why I came to your copy’s room. Jane managed to create a stable portal.”

Steve’s heart skipped a beat. “We can send him back?”

“Yes,” Tony smiled, “So far, the portal collapses in on itself after five seconds, but that’s long enough for a person to walk through.”

Steve grabbed the collar of Tony’s shirt and pulled him in for another kiss, hard and rough and elated. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day,” He beamed, “Please tell me we can send him back today.”

Tony nodded. “I don’t see why not.”

“Fantastic.”

• • •

They had chosen a small, abandoned ally to create the portal. Jane was setting up the equipment, Thor was watching, Tony was helping her out, and alternate-Steve was checking his weapons one final time. He was returning to a war-zone after all, so it was hard not to feel sorry for him, but after everything they had gone through, after all the games alternate-Steve had played with him, Steve was also pretty damn happy that he would be gone in a few minutes’ time.

“Are you gonna miss me?” Alternate-Steve glanced up from the semi-automatic pistol he just finished loading.

Steve snorted and crossed his arms before his chest. “I doubt it.”

“And here I thought we had a connection.” The pout of on alternate-Steve’s face was convincing, but fake.

“We’re good to go,” Jane announced.

As Jane beckoned alternate-Steve closer, Tony approached him and, as soon as their gazes locked, he smiled. Steve liked that look on him, because Tony didn’t smile that often. “Let’s get this show on the road,” He said, “I got a ton of work back at the Tower.”

“The laser guns?”

“I don’t understand how the other me made them so perfectly,” Tony said exasperated. He even threw his hands in the air. “It’s some decent Star Wars shit, and I can’t even figure out how the circuit board works.”

“You’ll get there.” He brushed his thumb against the side of Tony’s face where some oil got stuck onto his skin. He didn’t miss how Tony instantly leaned into the touch.

“Alright,” Jane said, drawing everyone’s attention, “Time to say goodbye.”

Steve dropped his hand from Tony’s face when alternate-Steve came to stand in front of him again, a small, wicked sort of smile tugging at the edges of his lips. Truth be told, alternate-Steve looked better now than when he’d first appeared through the portal. Sure, he still looked big and intimidating, what with the thick beard and tattoos all over his arms and up his neck. But he looked cleaner and well-rested, the dark circles around his dark blue eyes less distinctive.

“Thanks for the hospitality,” Alternate-Steve smiled, “Though we would have had so much more fun if you weren’t such a prick.”

Steve only hummed. “Someone needed to act mature and responsible,” He replied, “If it were up to you, we would have spent every day in a strip club.”

“Hell yeah!” Without warning, alternate-Steve grabbed the collar of Steve’s shirt, pulled him forward, and kissed him, just like that. It wasn’t a hard or desperate kiss like the other times, but just a kiss – their lips coming together and alternate-Steve sweeping his tongue across Steve’s lower lip.

Steve, startled, wanted to step back, only for his alternate-self’s free hand to curl around his upper arm to keep him in place.

“Hey!” Tony sounded unamused. “He’s not yours to kiss anymore!”

Alternate-Steve let go of him and stepped back, leaving Steve – for the umpteenth time in days, weeks even – absolutely breathless. His cheeks flushed red and his eyes flitted towards Thor and Jane without his permission. They stood awkwardly by the complex-looking device perched on a tripod and had averted their gazes. Steve looked at Tony then – Tony who quickly stepped to his side and threw alternate-Steve a warning look.

“It was my last opportunity to mess with him,” Alternate-Steve grinned, “Couldn’t let that one slide.”

“Dr. Foster,” Steve said as he straightened his back and tried not to give his counterpart any more attention, “Could you please create the portal?”

“Err, yes, definitely.” She jumped into action, moving to stand behind the device and switching it on. A narrow, blue laser-beam shot out from it and seemed to tear a hole in the fabric of reality itself. The hole grew and grew until it was just big enough to let through one adult man.

“Well, this is it.” Alternate-Steve approached the portal and sucked in a deep breath.

“Don’t give up on him,” Steve couldn’t help but say, “Maybe there’s still a chance to save him.”

Alternate-Steve threw him a sorrowful look before he stepped through the portal. For a brief moment, he shimmered into non-existence, but then he stood in his own universe, his home, and Steve felt relief flood him. Relief because his alternate-self was finally gone and because he’d made it in one piece.

Alternate-Steve lifted a hand and only now did Steve notice the small device in it. At the top, there was a red button. Alternate-Steve smiled, nodded a final farewell, and pressed the button. A shockwave rippled through the air, all the way through the portal, and once it reached the device on the tripod, the portal collapsed in on itself.

“What was that?” Steve asked.

“An electro-magnetic pulse, but only aimed at a certain set of frequencies,” Jane explained, “It destroyed any instrument capable of creating portals, in this universe and his, so for now, we shouldn’t have to deal with a situation like this again. At least not until the Tony over there figures out a way to use different frequencies to create the same portal, but it should take years to find another conformable wave-length which–”

“I get it,” Steve interrupted her, simply because he had a feeling she was about to launch off into a massive scientific explanation about wormholes, and he wouldn’t understand half of it anyway, “Thank you, Dr. Foster.”

Jane smiled broadly. “You’re welcome.”

“Can we go home now?” Tony asked impatiently. “I have laser-guns I need to work on.”

• • •

Steve didn’t have to hold back anymore. Tony had installed these boxing bags himself, using reinforced steel so that they wouldn’t be ripped from the ceiling if Steve hit it twice. With tape tightly wrapped around his hands, he punched the bag again. He’d been at it for almost two hours. It was a good work-out and sweat covered his skin. His blond hair stuck to his forehead.

“Here you are.”

Steve glanced past the bag and watched Tony approach, but he didn’t stop yet. He still had some energy to get rid of. When he hit the sand-filled bag again, a dull thud echoed through the gym.

“It’s nearly midnight,” Tony said.

“I know.”

“Want me to spot you?”

“No, it’s fine, I’m almost done.” He landed a particularly hard punch, ripping the leather, and he couldn’t help but smile. It wouldn’t have been a proper work-out if he hadn’t wrecked at least one punching bag. “Now I’m done.”

Tony wrapped an arm around the bag and leaned closer towards Steve with a wicked grin on his face. “You know, I have it on tape …”

A frown creased Steve’s brow. “You have what on tape?” He asked as he began to unwind the ribbons around his hands. He flexed his fingers experimentally, but everything was fine – and then it hit him. Tony had _it_ on tape. His eyes snapped back up to the billionaire. “It?”

“We could watch it together sometime,” Tony offered seductively.

The idea of watching himself be fucked by is alternate-self was anything but arousing. His eyes narrowed and darkened, and he took step closer towards Tony, the only thing separating them being the boxing bag. “If you ever want to see me naked in person, then you will delete that video right now.”

The panic in Tony’s eyes was real. “Friday, delete file 34601.”

‘ _It has been deleted, Sir._ ’

“There, it’s gone,” Tony said, the words spilling from his lips, “But you can’t blame me for that one. I removed the cameras in the public bathrooms, which may eventually lead to a security risk, but I can’t remove them in the guestrooms, because–”

“I know,” Steve interrupted, smiling, before he pressed a quick kiss to Tony’s lips.

‘ _Do you wish me to delete the back-ups for file 34601, too, Sir?_ ’

Steve instantly stepped back, horrified and feeling betrayed.

“Yes!” Tony shrieked. “Delete everything!” He stepped around the bag and raised his arms in a surrendering kind of manner. “You can’t blame that one on me either,” He said with wide, panicked eyes, “I have back-ups of everything. I have back-ups of my back-ups.”

Steve huffed out an incredulous breath and shook his head. “You are unbelievable,” He sighed. He stuffed the ribbons in his bags and picked it up. He was absolutely done for today. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

“Can I join you?” Tony asked hopefully.

“Not a chance,” He replied. He walked towards the exit and left a forlorn Tony by the bag. A smile curved the edges of his lips upwards and he halted just before the door. He glanced over his shoulder at the sad-looking genius. “But you can watch me since you get off on that so freaking much apparently.”

Tony had never before caught up with him so quickly.

• • •

The End

• • •


End file.
